Tina Turner is best known as a trailblazing rocker but Australia also remembered her on Thursday for her "unique" role in the history of rugby league in the country.

As tributes poured in from around the world to one of music's biggest names, who died Wednesday aged 83 in Switzerland, many Australians fondly recalled her influential love affair with the sport.

"She played a unique role in probably the most iconic sports marketing campaign in our history," said National Rugby League chief executive Andrew Abdo.

Australian rugby league is now massively popular and a business behemoth, but it was a different story in the late 1980s, when it was derided by some as working-class and macho.

The sport's top brass decided it needed a revamp to attract a new audience, particularly women and families, and that's where the American "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll" came in.

Click 'read more' to find out more about Tina Turner's influential love affair with Australian rugby league.